1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of electromagnetic devices such as motors, generators and machines and to methods for improving the efficiency thereof and more particularly to a high-efficiency electrical generator having a large number of applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention has its basis in known laws relating to physics, magnetism and kinetic energy. It is generally understood that moving electrons like other moving matter contain kinetic energy. For example, electrons moving from negative to positive electrodes contain kinetic energy. Similarly, electrons moving between magnetic poles contain kinetic energy.
As electrons move from a negative electrode to a positive electrode, they create a current. A moving election also creates a magnetic field around itself. The direction of the magnetic field is sometimes explained for simplicity in terms of the “right hand rule.” In electromagnetism, the right-hand rule can be used to determine the direction of the magnetic field produced by a rotating electric charge. This is done by first curling a person's right hand in the direction of the rotating current. When this is done, then the thumb on the right hand points in the direction of the resulting magnetic north pole. The magnetic field will also have an oppositely arranged south pole. A magnetic pole attracts a pole of opposite magnetic polarity. Conversely, two like magnetic poles repel each other.
Traditional generators capture the flow of electrons created by induction when a magnet is moved relative to a coil. A magnet having two poles, one magnetically north and the other magnetically south, is aligned so that one pole is facing the coil with the other, opposite pole, facing away from the coil. As the magnet is brought nearer the coil, the approaching magnetic field increases flux in the coil, which induces an electrical current that tends to oppose the change in flux in the coil. The direction of the current reverses as the magnet passes the center of the coil as the north pole moves away from the coil. In this particular arrangement, this reversing current is an alternating current. These principles are well understood and are utilized at the present time in the design of reciprocating motors and engines. Rotary designs of generators and motors also rely on the same principles of magnetic induction as reciprocating motors and engines.
A large body of patent art exists which embodies various offshoots of the above described principles of electromagnetism. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,169,343, issued Jan. 2, 2001, to Rich, Sr., is typical of a number of prior art reference which discuss the various implications of the magnetic fields which surround current-carrying coils. The Rich, Sr., reference is directed toward improving the efficiency of prior art generators and motors by reducing the counter electromotive forces which are typically present in the prior art devices of the type described above. This patent discloses a piston and coil arrangement that promotes magnetic attraction and repulsion between the coil and the outside poles. The coil is an electromagnet, and when a current is passed through the coil, a magnetic field is created with a magnetic polarity. The motion of the piston and the magnetism are aligned in the particular scheme which is shown in this reference in order to increase the efficiency of the device.
A number of prior art references use “carousel” type components in their physical design. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,241 teaches a permanent magnet generator having stationary coils positioned in a circle and a carousel carrying corresponding groups of permanent magnets through the centers of the coils. U.S. Pat. No. 5,663,605 is also a rotating electrical machine with electromagnetic and permanent magnet excitation being utilized in the design. U.S. Pat. No. 5,767,601 discloses a device that generates electricity in armature coils by the rotation of permanent magnets placed on a rotor.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,690 shows a DC motor having an air gap and a stator coil positioned within the air gap. First and second permanent magnet rotors are coaxially arranged to one another in the housing on opposite sides of the air gap. At least one permanent magnet rotor has an axially magnetized annular rotor magnet.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,515,390 shows a rotor made in the form of two disks. The stator is made in the form of coils that are distributed over the circumference and that are installed predominantly in the space between the rotor poles. They provide for the possibility of an “end face interaction” with the rotor poles. The circumferential array of coils, each being wound about an axis parallel to the shaft, generate an axially directed electromagnetic field that interacts with north and south flux lines.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,940,200 is a continuation-in-part of the previously described patent. This electric drive has windings between magnetized disks with a magnetic rotor and at least one stator. The magnetic rotor comprises at least two disks being made from ferromagnetic material and installed on a shaft, and the disks are magnetized in a direction parallel to the shaft. The stator is located between the two magnetized disks and comprises two layers of circumferentially arrayed coil windings etched on both sides of a printed circuit board and a controlling device. Each layer has several pairs of coil windings. One of the coil windings is interrupted for providing power leads to the controlling device.
Despite various advances in the electrical and electromagnetic arts of the type described above, a need continues to exist for a device and method for increasing the efficiency of electrical generators, motors and machines generally.
A need exists for such a device which is simple in design and economical to implement in a variety of useful real world applications.
A need exists for such a device which can be constructed from readily available materials and which is clean running and which does not require a high energy input for operation.
A need exists for such a device which can be powered from low energy input sources such as wind power or solar cells as opposed to the use of such energy sources as the burning of fossil fuels.